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 say, the hours actually spent in their company, which might easily come to three months by the calendar). No dissimulation, I am convinced, is of any avail against an intercourse of three weeks, for, to those who know, every method of defence has its special counterstroke. To see the faces of common people in the street has always been one of my greatest pleasures. No magic lantern comes up to this spectacle. There is something in the character of every man which cannot be broken inthe skeleton of his character; and to try to alter this is like training a sheep for draught purposes. To me there are no more odious people in the world than those who think it incumbent upon them to be ex officio funny upon every occasion. We are often better acquainted with a man than we can say, or at least, than we do say. Words, degree of good spirits, mood, ease, wit, interestthey all hide him and lead to deception. Where moderation is a fault indifference is a crime.

I know that look of affected attentiveness: it is the lowest point of distraction. To make men as religion would have them is like